Chapter 23: Naraku

Royakan and I stand facing each other with grimaces on our faces. At my sides, my hands tingle as they glow their purplish light, ready for attack. Off in the background, behind Royakan, the sound of buzzing can be heard, and out from nowhere come the gigantic poisonous hornets we fought during our Sesshomaru battle. This clearly is a sign that Naraku is part of this trouble.

With the brief distract, I catch a flash of Royakan rushing for me; his long left arm swinging from the side so fast that I am unable to release my ability before he's at me. I go to lift up my arms to protect myself but without realizing it, I am in the arms of Inuyasha, and we're up in the air. The purple light retreats for my hands, and I clutch at his shirt as we come to land near the forest edge.

"The jewel, Inuyasha, it's in his forehead." I exclaim, pointing in Royakan's direction. He gently helps me stand and I release his shirt. But once I do, I sense something powerful along with the sacred shards coming from behind us.

"Help….Help…." The sound of whispers of a woman comes from the forest as well. It is a familiar voice, one that I have heard before when the shards were calling out for me when they are in the hands of an evil demon. Looking over my shoulder, off in the far distance, I can see the faint sparkle of shimmering beyond the trees.

"Inuyasha…." I start, suddenly feeling an unease that upsets my stomach. When I look back at him, he's staring down at me with concern in his eyes. "There are more shards in the woods back there, and I can sense an eviler presence."

Royakan roars, earning our attention once again. He opens his wide mouth as wolves begin to pour out in packs. Inuyasha growls at my side, clearly getting irritated. He grabs ahold of a tree that is nearest to us, and rips it out from the ground. Dirt and leaves tumble onto the ground, escaping the movement of the heavy tree as he lifts it above his head. He thrusts the tree at Royakan and it enters his mouth, preventing anymore wolves from coming out; but the force is so strong that it sends Royakan flying back and landing with a loud thud.

The wolves that have already been unleashes come racing for us with their tongues lapping at the sides of their mouths. Unsheathing Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha growls as he impacts with the wolves with his sword, slicing them up and sending them flying. It doesn't take long for the wolves to be dispatched of, and when they are all gone, Inuyasha sheathes Tetsusaiga and bolts for the woods with Miroku close behind, leaving Kaede, Shippo and I alone with a hurt Royakan.

The guardian lays on the ground with his hands clutching his head as he weeps in defeat. Instead of dealing with Royakan, the three of us gather together and follow the boys into the woods. Inuyasha and Miroku are heading in the right direction even without my help, and they are not too far from the border of the forest either. The closer we get, the better we see a third person amongst Inuyasha and Miroku. This person is wearing a unique cover up of baboon skin, and he stands with a slight crouch making him appear shorter than he or she actually is.

"Naraku, it's him!" Miroku says.

Kaede, Shippo and I keep a distance from this person, whose aura is significantly more powerful than that of the two boys.

"Answer me one thing before I avenge Kikyo's death, Naraku, why do you bear such a grudge against me?" Inuyasha asks, his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. I can tell he's using a lot of restraint from charging at Naraku, clearly he truly wants an answer.

"Good question," Naraku's voice is deep and sultry, a voice easily used to manipulate people and situations. "I suppose you wish an answer to that question, else eternal rest will surely elude you in death."

"It is him!" Kaede yells beside me, her eye wide in surprise. "I recognize his voice!"

"Kaede, age has not been kind to you."

"Onigumo! Is that not your name?!" She questions.

"Onigumo? The name brings such fond memories. Nay, I am Naraku, not Onigumo. Yet it cannot be denied that I was born of Onigumo, 50 years ago. Onigumo was a foolish man, he began to foster desires for the kind hearted young priestess who nourished him. Eventually he succumbed to his weakness and called forth the demons. So they merged with him to become one. A demon named Naraku, myself. It required countless demons to create my body."

"Because the priestess Kikyo was so powerless the region teamed with demons. Her power had diminished because she had fallen in love with a worthless half demon. She submitted to her childish desires, and attempted to use the Shikon Jewel for her own purposes for that, she was punished. And Inuyasha, you suffered the punishment as well." Naraku exclaims.

Inuyasha growls ferociously, "You bastard! You are to blame for everything that happened! You tricked us into trying to kill one another!"

"Then tell me, how is it that the trust you held in each other was so easily destroyed?" Naraku questions, but without giving time to answer, he continues. "It was anger, a bitter anger that set you against one another. That, Inuyasha, is the true legacy of the trust you supposedly held for one another. Even Kikyo could not comprehend it. She should have chosen to live and used the power of the sacred jewel to save herself. Instead, she chose death. Had she pleaded for her life, her pathetic wretched wish would have been easily granted. Then she would have understood the ultimate truth of darkness. Foolish woman. It is claimed that the sacred shikon jewel grows more beautiful when it is tainted with malice."

The growl Inuyasha lets out continues as he speaks, "Keara! How many fragments are there?"

Focusing on the glowing mass under the baboon skin, I start to realize that there are so many shards that I can't count the amount, not without getting confused in the process. "There are more than I can count." As I say this, the whispers of the shards start to come alive again – as if they know themselves something is about to happen. They weep and cry, help, help, in the voice that is so familiar to me from my dreams.

"I'll slit you from head to toe to show you what 'malice,' means!" Inuyasha threatens. He leaps at Naraku with an arm outstretched and ready for attack, but Naraku is agile. Inuyasha's claws catch hold of the baboon skin and tears it to pieces but Naraku manages to jump up into the sky with fierce speed avoiding his own demise. Up in the air, he releases a purple smug that makes it impossible for us to see them from down below. But Inuyasha is fervent on catching him, and continues his pursuit up into the sky after Naraku, disappearing into the purple smoke.

Miroku rushes to us, grabbing our wrists and pulling us away from the cloud of smoke that starts to rain down on the world, and as it does, the landscape begins to decay and rot under its touch. We're able to get out of the borders in time before it could reach us. But what about Inuyasha. I tug my wrist from Miroku and search the skies for Inuyasha with no clarity as to where he is or if he is okay.

"Inuyasha!" I shout, but after a few seconds, there is no reply.

We wait, until the sky and land clears of the purple smog, and amongst the decay, stands Inuyasha with Tetsusaiga in hand at his side.

"Come back and fight me!" He yells up into the sky. But nothing is there. Naraku has escaped.

"Owe! My Head" Royakan cries. He's been on the ground since I arrived back into the area to retrieve the shard. His hands clutch at his forehead as he weeps. It's a funny sight, seeing a massive intimidating demon whine as much as he is.

Shippo and I approach him hesitantly, but when he doesn't budge when seeing us, we come up to his head where the jewel shines brilliantly from the middle of his forehead.

"Keep still! You want us to get out the shard of the jewel, don't you?" Shippo encourages.

"It's not possible! Only Naraku can remove them!"

"My ass," I mutter, rolling my eyes as I grasp the jewel on his head. It takes just the softest touch before the jewel breaks from the skin and falls into my hand, and when it does, Royakan explodes into a goldish light. Before our eyes he resumes back into his old self – big eyed and wide mouth, and much smaller than his last form. His big blue eyes look at us gleefully as he no longer must be in pain. Waving to us, he pleads, "Pleas forgive me for what I did! Thanks for helping me!"

Without us being able to say a word, he places both fists on his hips and gallants off into the forest.

"He's not as big as before, but he still makes quite a racket." Shippo says.

Twisting, I spot Inuyasha up high in a tall lone tree in the distance. He's almost a speck of red on the horizon. Leaving Shippo, I walk to the tree and watch him as he stares off, deep in thought, I assume.

He's probably thinking about Kikyo and all that transpired. Frowning, I think of the woman Inuyasha chased after up in the mountains, who claimed to be Kikyo. She was beautiful, but hollow, and so angry. So much rage. All this time – the both of them were angry at one another when they shouldn't have been. And even through the rage, Kikyo still chose death over living. Was it to follow him? My frown deepens, and I can't help but feel empty inside as I look up at him. As he thinks of another woman.

Why does this bother me so?